Paul Gelton

Paul Gelton was born in 1964 in the Netherlands in the city of Schiedam, near Rotterdam.

He has an MSc-degree in management engineering at Eindhoven University (speciality maintenance management) and holds additional degrees in maritime management and air navigation.

After finishing High school in 1982,Paul joined the Royal Netherlands Navy. He was appointed naval officer in 1985 and served as deck officer on boardfrigates and minesweepers for two years. In the following six years he served as tactical coordinator and aircraft commander on board P3C Orions at 320(NL) Squadron. In this period he joined several military missions in former Yugoslavia and the Middle East and led numerous search and rescue operations.

In 1995 he started a civil career as Head of Maritime Meteorological Services at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. For three years he was responsible for maritime safety information, such as storm surge and flood warnings.

He changed positionin 1998 to Head of Engineering within the Ministry of Traffic and Water Management. There he was responsible for the safe design of provincial highways

In 2003 he took position as Head of the Policy Department of the Netherland Shipping Inspectorate, where he was appointed Director-Chief Inspector Marine and Fisheries in 2005. In this position he was responsible for the safety of the Dutch merchant and fishery fleet.

Within the same ministry he was appointed Director Rail and Road Transport at the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate in 2009. For over three years he was responsible for supervision on safety of the national rail network and the safety of commercial road transport including taxi-services.

Recently Paul Geltonjoined the Ministry of Security and Justice, National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Safety, as Director Resilience.